MISSING LAUNCH’S HATCH COVER WASHED ASHORE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28985, 28 August 1959, Page 13

MISSING LAUNCH’S HATCH COVER WASHED ASHORE

'Aew Zeeland Press Association)

DUNEDIN, August 27. | A hatch cover which has been identified as belonging to the missing Port Chalmers ' fishing launch Reo Moana was washed ashore at Ocean , Beach, near Bluff, this after- [ noon, but searching aircraft and launches found no other [ traces of the launch. The Reo Moana carries a crew I of three—the owner Rhett Grennell, (aged 32), of 16 Burns street.' Port Chalmers, Robert Owens (aged 28), of Ranfurly. and Robert Corcoran, of Awarua plains, Invercargill. The hatch cover was identified ) by two Port Chalmers men. Messrs , Clifford Cleggs and Norman’ Ingold, both of whom undertook ; repair work on the cover before I the boat sailed. The air and sea search will be continued tomorrow. Tonight two of the searching i Port Chalmers boats, the Marion , Bay and the Olwyn. returned to: port, and two others, the Capri ] and the Joan Marie, berthed at Bluff. Awarua Radio this afternoon began a continuous watch on the small ship frequencies after the discovery of the hatch cover. The last radio message from the Reo Moana was heard at 9.30 p.m. on Monday as she was passing Centre Island. 12 miles south of Riverton, in Foveaux strait. She was due at Port Chalmers at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, but the boat I has not radioed that she is shelter- ' ing in one of the many coves, or

sought emergency assistance. An attempt may be made in Invercargill tomorrow to see if the position of the Reo Moana can be discovered by a woman who was reported to have remarkable psychic powers. This woman fixed the position of the Southland Aero Club’s aircraft which crashed in the Lammerlaw range, with remarkable accuracy. Chief Inspector F. Taylor, of the InverI cargill police, authenticated this use of extra-sensory perception.